Good News!

I want to share the good news with everyone...we were granted custody of the twins today! We are so excited. We brought them home with us today and tomorrow is their
5th birthday. We still have to take them back in a couple of weeks for them to stay for a waiting period where any family member has the right to come in and protest the decision. We don't expect any protest since no family member has been in their lives for all 5 years but be in prayer that everything goes through smoothly.
We are so thankful. The picture was taken at McDonalds after we picked them up today. We met an American family there and they took a picture for us. Thank you all for praying.

Easter

These pictures were taken by our neighbors. Each year for Easter they borrow some bunnies from a friend of theirs for the day so the boys went to pet them and visit with the cute little bunnies.







We celebrated Easter yesterday. It was a wonderful day. I love the resurrection songs and really want to incoporate them into our times of worship more often then just Easter! We had a full house, 19 kids...that is a lot for my little Sunday School room. Quite a few of those kids are from a tough backgrounds, they have been known to beg on the streets and several of them go to a special school because they have some form of mental handicapped although not severe. We fought hard to keep things under control...as it got closer to the Easter hunt though it got harder and harder. I got a group shot of the kids and will post it after I down load it.
After church Sunday evening, we invited those in attendance to our house for food and fellowship. It was a relaxing and fun time. I always feel I get to fellowship with the people when we are at our house in a more relaxed setting. Sunday's are so busy for me I feel like I barely say hello to people. Most everyone left around 9 p.m. but several stayed on for a round of Settlers.

Today is a relaxed day. Everything is closed so we are just hanging out and relaxing too. The boys are currently on a treasure hunt. We will leave this afternoon for Marghita. The boys will stay with some friends of ours. We will go to the court house first thing tomorrow morning. We have no idea what kind of a wait we will have. It is a small town so hopefully there won't be a long wait.
I'll be updating you all as soon as I can on the result. Keep praying!

Court Date

Our Court Date is April 21!!!

Modesty

I know I normally just write about what is going on in my family life but this topic has been on my heart lately...modesty in the 21st century...does it exist? I have no idea really who reads this blog or if this entry will turn you off but I am struck lately by just how immodest women dress...including women who call themselves followers of Christ. My sons turn away in embarassement when they see a women in revealing clothes...I pray this heart remains in them as they get older. I notice that many people either harp on womens dress and give a specific list of what they can and can't wear or they steer completely clear of this subject.

I just wonder, as the mother of boys, will they be able to find a women of character who cares enough about them and other Christian brothers who is willing to not dress in a way that provokes sensual thoughts...I sure hope so! So, what exactly does modesty mean? I found a good definition by C.J. Mahaney in his 7 part series called, "God, My Heart, and Clothes." He says, "Modesty means propriety. It means avoiding clothes and adornment that are extravagant or sexually enticing. Modesty is humility expressed in dress. It’s a desire to serve others, particularly men, by not promoting or provoking sensuality.

Immodesty, then, is much more than wearing a short skirt or low-cut top; it’s the act of drawing undue attention to yourself. It’s pride, on display by what you wear.

Self-control is, in a word, restraint. Restraint for the purpose of purity; restraint for the purpose of exalting God and not ourselves. Together, these attitudes of modesty and self-control should be the hallmark of the godly woman’s dress."

I guess what disturbs me most is that Christian women don't even seem to want to discuss modesty or hear any type of teaching on this. When they hear someone start to speak on this they yell, "Legalist! Don't you know I am free from a list of rules!" I was one of these women when I first finished college. My parents had never been overly strict with me but when I got married and left home and left the Christian college I attended I was shouting, "hey no rules, I can wear what I want!" I think what started me thinking about this modesty subject again is the fact that I am trying to raise 5 sons to be lovers of God and to keep their minds pure. We live in a day where a man must choose where to turn his eyes for fear of seeing pornography right on the street. When all we can do is think about our freedom to dress as we want instead of realizing that how I dress is an outward expression of what is in my heart then that is when Christian women stop thinking about their Christian brothers and start dressing because we are "free".

"A woman who focuses on worshiping God will consider carefully how she is dressed, because her heart will dictate her wardrobe and appearance."(John MaCarthur)

I'll close with this quote from C.J. Mahaney's article on modesty and hope that you prayerfully consider whether this is an area you as a women need to work on or you as a man need to be more attentive to when it comes to your wife and daughters:

"There’s an inseparable link between your heart and your clothes. Your clothes say something about your attitude. If they don’t express a heart that is humble, that desires to please God, that longs to serve others, that’s modest, that exercises self-control, then change must begin in the heart.

For modesty is humility expressed in dress."

Finally.

Here is our new school room.

I know it has been a while since I blogged. I've been busy getting my house out of a chaotic state. To try and make a long story short. We put stairs inside the house so we could utilize our space in the attic. The stairs are in our old bedroom and we moved upstairs. Then we moved all the family room stuff into our old bedroom and had the ceiling lowered in our family room and put in new windows and re plastered the walls (they are cement and we never did them right so they were cracking and the paint was peeling off). Then we painted in there and moved our stuff back in then painted the school room and moved that stuff in and now the boys dorm room has more space. We had orignally separated their room with a big wardrobe or dulop as we call them and had school on one side and the boys slept in two bunk beds on the other side. I am very thankful for a school room.
In the middle of all this, Kendra left. She left last Wednesday...sigh. She WILL BE BACK though in July. She left me with a craft notebook all planned out for the next three months at the center for handicapped children.

I have a project for the handicapped kids we work with and I need some sponsers. I have found what is called a "band in a box". It has different little instruments the kids could bang on. They love music and love to strum on my guitar and sing. I thought they would enjoy banging the tamborines and other instruments while we are singing. I would like 3 of them. If anyone wants to get one to send for these kids let me know and I can tell you where I found them or you can find your own. I can also give you the info of where to send it.

I am quite discouraged with the whole adoption process. It seems as everyone here is too busy to take the time to put two children in a home. I will give you more news when I have it but it looks like we may not have a court date until the end of May...one year after we put in our request to be their guardians...unreasonable, unthinkable, and un, well I can't think of another word but I never imagined we would be facing the twins 5th birthday and they would still be at the orphanage. The orphanage by the way is closing down in six months and our twins were expected to be the first to go. Looks like now they will be the last to go. It just seems that every time we get news it is a little bit of bad news, never any good and each time it knocks a little more hope and spirit out of me. I feel like the twins are going to quit believing that we are ever going to bring them home forever.

My wonderful blessed husband is allowing me a reprieve this summer for 9 days. For nine glorious days I get to be with my family in the states. I am looking forward to the break. I am going to pick up our son Zach. He is leaving in May with my parents. We are excited that he will get to see his cousins in Kansas City and he will spend a week at the Wilds. I will be in Greenville for my grandma's 90th birthday!

Snow, snow, snow...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....it has been snowing almost daily since last Thursday. We haven't had this much snow in many years, I think since our first winter here. We have about a foot of snow on the ground and it is snowing again today!


The kids have loved playing in the snow. We actually had 60 degree weather last week so when the wood stock was low we weren't too worried. When it got colder and started snowing we became a little worried we were going to run out of wood before our next load came yesterday but we cut out one fire and shut the room off and saved wood. We have been living with 8 people in two rooms. It is a challenge and I admire many Romanian families who live in a room all winter to save on heat! In such cramped quarters I feel like the old woman in the shoe who had so many children she didn't know what to do!! We will plan a little better for next winter. We have already ordered our wood to all be here by July so we don't run out!


I am thankful for all those who are praying for our situation to be resolved. We trust and are confident in God's love and protection for us and our family. He holds the twins future in His hands and we are confident that future is with our family, we just don't know when exactly that will be.
We are happy to know that our file has been sent to Marghita and we are awaiting word on our new court date.



On a lighter note. I hear the most interesting conversations in my house. All six kids are mixing their languages. So, I hear things like: "esti done", "eu am slept aici", "Iubesc pe dog", now if you don't know Romanian I know these sayings will not be so amusing to you but it is very amusing to hear.
My next favorite thing is to hear Nate whine in Romanian. He is usually whining at Georgie. Nate thinks that all 54 Hot Wheels cars should be his alone and he always chases after Georgie saying "vreau aia", I have to remember that even though it sounds funny to hear him whining in Romanian that I must discipline him when I hear it.
My oven has been broken for two months now. Thank the Lord for Kendra who makes lots of good soups! I really don't want to buy a new oven here because it will be a down grade...meaning I would get a much smaller oven and I think I would really regret that so I am trying to be patient while waiting to find the alusive part we need.
Meanwhile I received a counter top mini oven from a friend. I have made mini pizza's in it and mini cookies and Kendra is trying muffins tonight!
I will be driving the twins back to Marghita tomorrow. Yes, I know scary thinking of a girl from South Carolina driving in the snow but our van is really good in the snow so I am not worried. Then on Thursday I will go visit a day center that ministers to 7 children. I'll tell you all about it when I return...just pray I don't get lost and I don't get a flat tire (I did on Sunday) and that I don't run into really bad roads...yes mom I will drive slowly :).

Life

We have lots of different things going on so this will be a conglomeration of different stories.
First of all, the twins saga continues. I found out the other day that whenever we do get our court date...could be up to two months, that even if we are granted custody we will have to wait 45 more days to bring them home. So, we quite possibly are looking at not until after their 5th birthday! For those of you who wonder why we told them so soon that we wanted to be their parents, this was supposed to be a quick and easy case but the child protective services in Oradea turned it into something complicated. If we had known it would be this long of a wait just to get them in our home we would have never told them so soon! Baron has no doubts that we will get them but the waiting is hard. These are such important moments of their life. We wanted to get them before scars were too deep routed to heal but God can heal all hearts and wounds and we have faith that He will guide us in helping our twins heal as we show them that God loves them unconditionally and that we love them too!
One of the hardest things was the day we went to court I got a phone call from my friend who was staying with the boys. She told me Zach was leaping and dancing through the house shouting out, "this is the day the twins become ours!" She wasn't sure what to tell him so I gave him the news over the phone. This is hard on our kids too. Even Nate asks where they are from time to time.

Those of you who homeschool your kids know how I feel...I feel like the boys need someone besides me in their lives to teach them something, to influence them. I don't want them to be "momma boys". So, I had been wondering what in the world we could do for them. We went to a gym to check on gymnastics for JaneBatson, Kendra's little girl. It turns out there are no gymnastics teachers for girls but they do have Greco-Roman fighting for boys. So, we signed Zach and Spence up for lessons! They went Friday for the first time and loved it. The teacher, Avraam (Abraham), is so nice and friendly. I felt so comfortable leaving them there. They will go Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings. I am trying to feed them lots of protein. He was a little worried about how skinny Zach is. It will be a good outlet for them to meet other Romanian boys their age and beef up on their language skills.

We have a mess on our hands! Our attic has been finished for 5 years now but the stairs are outside the house. Now that we will have 5 boys in one room we felt we needed to expand a little. The boys room now is used partly for school so we are putting stairs inside the house so that Baron and I can move upstairs and our room can become the school room and the boys can have a bigger room. They should complete the job on Monday. The stairs will look a little abnormal, we bought a pre-fabricated spiral staircase but it wasn't tall enough to reach so they had to build a platform with two steps going up to it and then the spiral stairs.

I am excited that we get to send our oldest, Zach, to America this summer for about a month. We decided it would be good for him to get away from home for a little while and go to camp. He will go back with my parents the end of May. He will go to camp at the Wilds the second week of June and then hopefully out to Missouri for a week to see his other grandparents. We will miss him terribly but we pray it will be a good thing for him.

Last but definately not least...the angels are rejoicing in heaven due to a new believer! A friend of Dorina's has come on and off over the past few years but everytime we talked with her something was keeping her from a real relationship with God. She, just like many others here, had alot of religious baggage she was carrying and was having a hard time releasing it and accepting the truth. The past few months she has been coming to church faithfully and we visited her again recently and we could sense a change in her. We noticed she was singing so happily and loudly at church, and she told us she had been reading her Bible and studying and that she wanted to be baptized. So, Baron gave her a Bible study to do and she came over last week and shared just a wonderful testimony of the grace of God. It was so clear she was believing in Christ alone now! I wish I could share the whole conversation with you all, it was such a blessing for me to just hear her talk about the religious baggage she released and that the truth had set her free. She told me that the book of John really opened her eyes...it is all about faith she told me. It is always so encouraging to see someone changed by Christ. She is telling everyone she knows about the change Christ as made in her! Praise God!